On Richard Wolff

[RedMaterialist]

Anyone have any opinions on Richard Wolff as a marxist?

[The Jay]

He is cool. Just read his books and you'll know what I mean. His radio program isn't explicitly for leftists.

[Ottoraptor]

I don't find any of his stuff interesting. He seems to be a modern proudhonist rather than a marxist. He doesn't reject markets and sees the business model in the silicon valley as something that should be looked to when forming firms in a "socialist society". Further more his close collaborator Resnick, and I believe this extends to Wolff, believes that exploitation only happens at the business level. So a market economy where businesses still make profit would not be exploitative if the businesses are controlled by the workers. I think we can all see the problems with this.

[cantwealljustgetalong]

he's got a thorough understanding of all types of economic theory, including Marxian theory. his Economics textbook is a classic.

however: he comes out of the Althusserian school of post-structuralist Marxism, and therefore has little patience for empiricist or rationalist epistemology. you get the sense that he doesn't care if Marxian economics responds to reality or is internally consistent. this troubles me as a Marxist and as someone generally interested in social science.

his systemic reconstruction of Marxian economics incorporates a standard assumption of neoclassical economics that renders Marxian value theory internally inconsistent, yet he doesn't reject the theory or consider alternatives. if you're really into the nitty-gritty of all of this, check out Andrew Kliman's Reclaiming Marx's Capital or kapitalism101's page on the subject (http://kapitalism101.wordpress.com/what-transformation-problem/). (Wolff would be considered a Simultaneous Single-System Theorist)

also fitting with the more deterministic Althusserian approach, he seems to downplay the political will of the working class in the development of socialism, focusing more on prefigurative types of economic organization. listening to him speak, I began to get the idea that perhaps capitalism will just overturn itself if there were enough co-ops, although I'm almost sure this is an exaggeration of his real position.

all that being said, there is much to be learned from him; if you take the Althusserian interpretation of Marx, there's no better economist.